Although some called Apple’s third generation iPad a relatively “modest” update to its popular predecessor, sales for its opening weekend were through the roof. Apple announced this afternoon that 3 million iPads since have been sold since it was officially launched on Friday morning.

“The new iPad is a blockbuster with three million sold?the strongest iPad launch yet,” said Philip Schiller, Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing. “Customers are loving the incredible new features of iPad, including the stunning Retina display, and we can't wait to get it into the hands of even more customers around the world this Friday.”

To put those numbers into perspective, Samsung -- third place in tablet sales behind Apple and Amazon -- shipped a mere 1.5 million Android-based tablets during all of Q4 2011 according to IDC.

Microsoft under Ballmer has flailed because he's a salesman first, not an insightful product strategist or even a shrewed manager. He *maybe* has Steven Sinofsky and Joe Belfiore as guiding lights, and they're not given a lot of free rein. Under Ballmer, Microsoft has been notorious for fiefdoms and for sheltering the Windows business at the expense of good ideas; the Windows group can sabotage a product like the Courier or the original Kin design solely because they weren't running a form of Windows.

Cook was a COO before now, and that means he knows how to keep a company running at peak potential: many credit him as much as Jobs for turning Apple from have months of lead time and way too many product lines (i.e. like most Windows PC builders) into a company that can be shipping a product almost as soon as it's announced and has very few models of anything. Everyone at Apple is on the same page, and it gleefully cannibalizes one of its older products if it thinks the new product is the future.

Plus, don't think Jobs was exclusively, or even primarily, responsible. He had vision, but lot of the design credit goes to people like Jonathan Ive.

Steve Jobs greatest piece of product development was in making Apple V2. He knew that, sadly, his days were numbered so he spent a lot of care and attention in building Apple into something that would survive hime. Time will tell whether he has succeeded or not. So far it seems Tim Cook and Apple haven't put a foot wrong.

The biggest question is exactly how extensive Jobs roadmap for Apple was. He was, regardless of any other trait, a major planner. He liked to have everything planned out for years in advance. So, how long will it be before Apple encounters their version of the end of the Mayan calendar?